Flying Pig Half, Cincinnati, May 5, 2013 - part 1

Wednesday, May 08, 2013

Flying Pig Half Marathon
May 5, 2013 (Happy Cinco de Mayo!)
2:58:28

Slowest half ever. And I’m proud of it!... but I’m ahead of myself.

The weekend started Thursday night. I left work and ran around like a crazy woman packing, picking up snacks, etc. Then I picked up Tracy and we were on the road by 6:30! Thankfully this allowed rush hour traffic to mostly clear, and we got out of Mass with no problem.

New York City is where we started to get silly. What else does one do while sitting in traffic near the George Washington Bridge?  And we drove, and drove, and made it to Warren, PA before we gave in and found a hotel to grab some sleep.

By 7:30 the next morning we were back on the road and on our way to pick up Mary! What a joy she is! We had a wonderful time getting to know each other across the loooooong drive through Pennsylvania and into Ohio.

Amusing aside – about the time we crossed into Ohio Tracy realized she hadn’t signed up for the race! Oops! She was certain she had, but records indicated the contrary. Thankfully she was able to do so from the car thanks to technology. *phew!* (she said not to tell anyone, but since she told EVERYONE I figure it's okay. heh.)

Anyway, we made it to our hotel around 7pm and met up with Tammy, Shirley, Dottie and a mass of Sparkers! There was much laughter and fun, and the making of signs, before everyone drifted off to their rooms.

Saturday was a fairly early morning as we wanted to get over to cheer on the 10K racers, who were taking off at 8am. We saw them start and rushed over to the finish in time to see the frontrunners come through! Spending several hours cheering on runners was a GREAT way to start race weekend!

The expo was pretty big, though I wasn’t fond of how it was set up. The race swag, on the other hand, was great! They gave us posters, t-shirts, and these GREAT cooler bags. Best swag I’ve ever seen at a race. I did buy a shrug but avoided buying new shoes thanks to Tracy being a great friend and pulling me away.

Rachel visited us on Saturday! So exciting to meet her and have her come up to cheer us on!
Saturday night found us drinking margaritas and celebrating with some Mexican tasties a little early. But we called it a night early since the next morning would be an early one!
5:30 am meet time!...

WORTHEYMOM
he he - sounds like you guys had a blast! I can't wait to be able to meet with a bunch of sparkers! No one in my area will really give it a try =( I can't wait to hear about your half!!1776 days ago